We just got back from a trip to Alaska, what a beautiful state! Not sure if you can find a better place in the USA that has so much to offer. We felt like we saw so much and yet so little. Alaska is the biggest US state, so it was difficult to see as much as we wanted to. We spent time in Anchorage, Seward, Homer, Denali National Park & Preserve, Fairbank, North Pole and many other smaller places. We went hiking, saw Denali, went fishing, and took a boat tour out of Seward.

One of our favorite memories was staying at Alyeska Resort, its a ski resort just outside of Anchorage. Even though it was warm and sunny most of the days we were in Alaska, we got to do a lot. Many of our friends who went to Alaska said it rained most of the time they were there. Its true that if you hit a stretch of sunny days, its abnormal. It started raining the last day we were in Anchorage, heading towards the airport.

What I realized from this trip is that you cannot see everything Alaska has to offer in one trip. You either need to move there or spend many more summers traveling the state. It would be cool to see Alaska in the winter as most people visit in the summer. I’ve heard their winters are cold but sunny many days. If you can find a sunny day, you have a great shot of seeing the Aurora. Now that we are home we are already planning a trip back to Alaska. We found this awesome Alaska calendar, which will help keep us happy until our next trip back in 2017!

In Spokane Washington there are hundreds of different landscaping and lawn care companies, choosing the best one may be difficult. With so many different landscaping companies to choose from it can be difficult in narrowing down the best ones. You will want to write down a list of the companies that you know and maybe the companies your neighbors have used. Here are a few ideas on choosing which landscaping company to go with:

Does the company have a website, Facebook page, Google plus page? – These are signs that a landscaping company is being proactive with their marketing. A company that is all over the internet is most likely a good company. Why? Because anyone can leave a review or any business online. “The loudest company will be heard the most”

Does the landscaping company answer their phone? – Believe it or not, if they don’t answer their phone the first time you call, then why will they answer their phone when you have questions for them or they have already started work on your lawn. This is especially important for landscaping businesses.

Do they offer free quotes or free bids? Most landscaping companies will offer free quotes before starting the job, but do they also offer free bids on simple jobs such as lawn mowing or gardening work? If they do not then move on.

Do they hesitate when answering your questions or when trying to figure out a good day to come out to your house? Don’t get stuck in this trap. Sure they want your business, but they don’t really care that much. If you are trying to get them out to your house and they keep pushing the date or time frame out to the ‘next week’ then don’t waste your time with them. Many landscaping companies will have an organized schedule and if they do not, then avoid them and save yourself a headache.

Do they show up on time? Sure you put out a few calls and got a few landscaping companies who said they will come out to your house at a specific time, but who shows up right on time? Any company who doesn’t show up on time, let them know they can leave and that you do not want a free bid from them. If they are going to waste your time, then they don’t need your business.

Do they employ enough people to handle their work load? Sometimes this might be hard to figure out, but there are sure signs you can watch for that will let you know. If they answer their phone the first time you call, if they show up to your home on time, these are signs that they can handle a decent workload.

Once you have a small list of Spokane landscaping companies, you can start narrowing down your list by doing a quick search online for their business. Do they have an active Facebook page? Sure not every business will have a Facebook page but if they do you can see what other people are saying about them. If you search Google for any business you can easily find reviews about that business. If they have bad reviews then you might want to drop them from your list. Sometimes if a business had bad reviews, they might be hurting for work and therefore might be a lower price than their competition. If price is an issue for you, then these mid-class landscaping businesses might be for you.

Just because a business has one or two bad reviews, does not mean they are a bad company, but if you spot a pattern of bad reviews then I would suggest staying away from them from the get-go.

You can also check to see if the Spokane landscaping company has a few videos that show case their services or even reviews. Some businesses will post pictures of past work, which is a great resource on ideas and will show you the type of work the landscaper can do. If you are looking for landscaping ideas then HGTV is a great resource for ideas and images. Be sure to have these ideas available when you meet with your landscaper so they know exactly what you are thinking and the type of work you expect to see.

Landscaping can be a form of art. The landscape of someone’s yard needs to look nice, just the same as an art piece the landscape is the backdrop for the artist. Every landscaping project is unique and has its own elements of art. When to start this project will determine the success and look of the final product.

Landscaping in Spokane during the summer months can be difficult with the extreme heat and dry summers that often frequent the area. Lots of water is needed to keep lawns green and gardens alive, yet with the amount of sunny days, most anything will grow in the Spokane area.

The best time to start a landscaping project is either right before fall or right after winter has passed. Both of these periods of time will allow your gardens to get a head start on the coming heat and your lawn to get situated before the summer heat begins to bake it.

What type of landscaping projects can you start in the fall?

Build a gazebo, paint your gazebo

Edge your lawn, your sidewalk and your garden

Fertilize your lawn

Complete sprinkler system check

What type of landscaping projects can you start in the spring?

Plant a few trees

Plant a few shrubs

Plant your garden

Fertilize your lawn

Edge your driveway, sidewalk and around your gardens

Build a fence

Paint your fence

Pressure wash your driveway and sidewalks

Add a sprinkler system

During the spring, more projects can be started and completed, but doing everything in the spring might cause you to burn out. That is why its important to get as much done in the fall so that when the next spring time comes around, you won’t have as many project to complete or start.

Landscaping in Spokane during the summer months makes it harder to complete a project and that is why starting or completing a project in the spring or fall is the ideal time. Maintaining your lawn is an ongoing effort and is something that you will need to continue during the hot summers. The only time you may not need to maintain your lawn is during the winter and that is mostly because grass doesn’t grow much during the cold and dark winter months. This is why its important to time your lawn mowing service with the end of summer. As soon as you notice your grass has stopped growing as fast as it was in the summer, have it trimmed one last time. The last trimming of your lawn will keep it in good shape for the winter. When the snow falls the grass will stop growing and you won’t have to have it mowed until the next spring time.

Sports and music are extra things that have to be considered when preparing on house schooling. Most children adore to play either sports or music. You should verify to see in case your home schooler wants to participate in either of these activities. You have the option of joining private sports clubs, but most schools allow house schoolers in the district to play with them. Music is another large factor for children who are taught at house. Many home school applications and states will spend for private music lessons to ensure that can be apart of their education. I reside inside a small town known as Maple Valley and numerous from the home schooled kids I know take guitar lessons in Maple Valley WA for the music part of their research. Research have shown that most kids involved in sports and music do much better in school. Both these activities bring so many positives into a young persons life.

One of the largest decisions you’ll ever make is to choose homeschooling for your child’s education. There are many advantages to teaching your kids at home, but it’s also a major responsibility. You need to be educated in this area so that you can provide your kids with the best atmosphere possible – here are a few tips.

Many areas have communities of people who are home schooling, and you should find out how you can become part of this. Many parents are dong this nowadays, and you should get in touch with others in your area. Look for local support groups, join groups and forums online and go out of your way to meet other families who are home schooling.

Some of the parents you meet will probably have been home schooling for a while and can advise you in many areas. If you’re concerned about your kids not having anyone their own age to play with, reaching out to other home schooling families can be a way to remedy this. There are almost certainly other home schooling families not far away from you, but you may have to take the initiative to actually meet them. You can get many great ideas on mom blog and dad blog sites for homeschooling things. I’d check some of them out. You may get some ideas and you’ll probably get a few good laughs too.

There are many benefits to home schooling and the flexibility you have is a major perk. Also, you will be able to use own way of teaching that might be more suited to your children. Crowded classrooms have always been a problem in traditional schools; however, you will only have your own children to work with. As a result, it will be a lot more convenient to go on field trips, have custom designed lesson plans, and formulate your very own system for teaching your children. Local culture can come alive for your kids if you take them to events in your community. Some functions that come to mind are Pow Wows and Greek Food Festivals. Your area will have their own cultural programs that your kids can enjoy. Also, the traditional field trips to the library and museums are important. Hands-on experience is a much better way of teaching than just book learning and will make learning a lot more interesting for your children. They can learn how shoes are made from a boot maker, how cakes are created from a baker, and they can learn about the algae that turns the local swimming pool green from the man who sells pool supplies at the local Lowe’s Home Improvement Center. If your child shows promise, or a strong interest, in a particular area, you can make sure they receive more information on that subject.

Just like any teacher has to know in advance what he or she will be covering each day, so you’ll have to do this when home schooling your kids. You’ll have to take your role as a teacher seriously, which means having confidence in your lessons and presenting them in a clear and orderly manner. If you have good textbooks and other educational material, they’ll guide you on how to proceed, but you’ll have to develop your own teaching methods. It’s important to realize that when you’re home schooling, you are literally becoming a teacher. If you want your children to truly benefit from home schooling, you have to prepare adequately for the lessons you provide.

Home schooling is now far more common than it was even a decade ago. You can now easily find out everything you need to know about home schooling, as so much has been written about it. Aside from what you can read on the topic, you can also meet lots of other people who are doing home schooling. The above tips can help you start off in the best possible way with home schooling, so you can give your kids a thorough and well rounded education.